Meet Shards, a new MMORPG from Citadel Studios

Citadel Studios, a new independent MMORPG development company, has announced their first project, codenamed “Shards,” and they have given us a sneak peek.

With Shards, Citadel is taking inspiration from their previous work on the grandaddy of RPGs, Ultima Online - they’re creating a truly next-generation online game that will enable players to customize their experience, and change the face of player collaboration forever.

Check out the announcement teaser trailer:

“We left our soul-crushing, corporate jobs to make the games we’d actually play,” said Derek Brinkmann, founder and CEO of Citadel Studios. “As we started our first project and experimented with concepts, we discovered ways we could share our passion for creating living worlds with gamers themselves. Ultimately the community will dictate what Shards becomes, because we’re not just providing a game but also a platform for players to express their creativity.”

Based on their own personal passion for the genre, Citadel is ignoring the modern online gaming imperative to squeeze every last cent from every player. Set in a richly-imagined universe with deep lore and environments ranging from the familiar to the surprising, Shards will give players more power than ever before, without constantly asking them to take out their wallets.